Reviews for Andrew Jackson
Publishers Weekly
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In the latest installment of the American Presidents series edited by Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Princeton historian Wilentz shows that our complicated seventh president was a central figure in the development of American democracy. Wilentz gives Jackson's early years their due, discussing his storied military accomplishments, especially in routing the British in the War of 1812, and rehearsing the central crises of Jackson's presidential administration-South Carolina's nullification of the protective tariff and his own battle against the Bank of the United States. But Wilentz's most significant interpretations concern Indian policy and slavery. With constitutional and security concerns, Jackson's support for removal of Indians from their lands, says Wilentz, was not "overtly malevolent," but was nonetheless "ruinous" for Indians. Even more strongly, Wilentz condemns the "self-regarding sanctimony of posterity" in judging Jackson insufficiently antislavery; Jackson's main aim, he says, was not to promote slavery, but to keep the divisive issue out of national politics. Wilentz (The Rise of American Democracy) also astutely reads the Eaton affair-a scandal that erupted early in Jackson's presidency, over the wife of one of his cabinet members-as evidence that, then as now, parlor politics and partisan politics often intersected. It is rare that historians manage both Wilentz's deep interpretation and lively narrative. Agent, the Wylie Agency. (Jan. 2) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Choice
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Wilentz (Princeton Univ.) has written a superb book about an important US leader. Andrew Jackson became president just as great conflicts in US politics began to take shape--urban versus rural, federal versus state, free versus slave. Old Hickory was not shy about taking a stand amid these divisive issues. He always opposed the artificial inequalities of birth, money, and political privilege, and as president, he fiercely attacked anything he believed was undemocratic or a threat to the nation. This led him to enact "rotation in office" for government appointments, oppose the extreme States' Rights followers of John C. Calhoun, destroy the Second Bank of the United States, move the Indians to western lands, and stifle radical abolitionists. Readers learn much about a larger-than-life figure whose controversial career included great triumphs as well as failures and moral blind spots. Wilentz does an expert job of putting all this into clear historical perspective. His accounts of the Peggy Eaton affair and Nicholas Biddle and the Bank War are especially informative and entertaining. This very well written book is short, lucid, and scholarly--a perfect distillation of the character, career, and personality of Andrew Jackson. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. E. M. Thomas Gordon College
Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
In this concise and very readable history of Andrew Jackson's controversial presidency, Wilentz (history, Princeton Univ.; The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln) offers a balanced viewpoint. During his time in office (1829-37), Jackson took a stand on several contentious issues, among them the treatment of native Americans (he supported states' rights in relocating them to the west) and the Bank of the United States (he vetoed its charter). To the author, Jackson's decisions stemmed from his belief in the democratic principle of majority will and in fighting for the lower classes against the privileged. Yes, Jackson was prone to making mistakes owing to honor and pride, but Wilentz believes that he remained true to his ideals. Because of the book's brevity and focus, we miss out on Jackson's charisma (he was the most popular man of his time) and era. For those elements, readers will have to turn to H.W. Brands's Andrew Jackson: His Life & Times or Robert Remini's The Life of Andrew Jackson. Donald B. Cole's The Presidency of Andrew Jackson, provides scholars with more details, but Cole's message does not focus so much on Jackson's own drive for democracy. Wilentz's book is a great first read for students and general readers because of its affordability, new assessments, and writing style. Recommended for public and academic libraries.-Bryan Craig, Ursuline Coll., Pepper Pike, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
Best known now for beating the British in the 1815 Battle of New Orleans, Jackson is truly, monumentally important, Wilentz argues, as the first great presidential champion of the common man and indivisible union. He fought the plutocratic Bank of the United States' stranglehold on credit for the sake of farmers and small businessmen. His militant expansionism--the rationale for his Indian removal policies, which he felt were better than white settlers exterminating Native Americans, as had happened in New England--aimed to facilitate American settlement and prevent foreign, especially British, encroachment. He became founder-leader of the first modern political party, the Democracy (later called the Democratic Party), to prosecute the interests of ordinary citizens, too, going so far as to advocate direct senatorial and presidential election. Even his anti-states rights and anti-secession positions reflected his social sympathies, for he considered his southern opponents on those issues would-be aristocrats. Factor in his heroic courage, iron will, and remarkable pragmatism, and Jackson's presidential stature, especially as carefully expounded here, seems towering, indeed. --Ray Olson Copyright 2005 Booklist
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Old Hickory was a man of actions, not ideas—but a better president than past historians have held. Few politicians these days, even of a demagogic bent, go out of their way to claim descent along Jacksonian lines, and for good reason: The conservatives of Jackson's time reviled him as "an American Caesar who had stirred the blockhead masses, seized power, and installed a new despotism"; the liberals of the day and their intellectual progeny reviled Jackson for his anti-abolitionism and his conduct of genocidal campaigns against southeastern Indian peoples. Wilentz (The Rise of American Democracy, 2005, etc.) allows the inutility of using modern labels to categorize political views of the past, and in all events, Jackson is hard to pin down. Wilentz portrays Jackson as a populist who was fonder of Jeffersonian movement than of Federalist stability, who prized egalitarianism over privilege and who personified what other historians have called the Age of Democratic Revolution, which began with the American and French experiments and ended with 1848. He "dedicated his presidency to vindicating and expanding [the prospect that America could be the world's best hope] by ridding the nation of a recrudescent corrupt privilege that he believed was killing it," and he was particularly committed to defeating the entrenched wealthy in their own temples—namely, the new banks. Jacksonian monetary policy, always a confusing topic, is rendered fairly lucidly here, though Wilentz plays against tough odds when he has to condense the controversies over hard money versus soft and the effects of international debt on the economy of the early republic into only a few paragraphs. In the end, Wilentz does a solid job of explaining the contributions of the Jackson presidency—and notes that, despite Jackson's expansionist reputation, during his eight years in office, "Andrew Jackson did not add an inch of soil to the American dominion." A worthy introduction to the Age of Jackson, now receiving increased attention from historians. Copyright ŠKirkus Reviews, used with permission.
